Cross shaft with interlace design

Object Detail

Cross shaft which was re-used in the 1700s as a gravestone. The base of a plain head still remains with holes between its expanded arms. The shaft is filled with a panel of irregular interlace, the strands of which are marked by central grooves. The unfinished back has a panel of widely spaced, irregular interlace. During the 1700s the stone was re-used as a gravestone. The shield of an important local family, the MacLellans, was carved near the centre of the front of this shaft. The letters AM are the initials of the person whose grave was marked by the stone. We cannot know whether the head was removed from the cross before or after its re-use. Another interesting feature of this stone is the grid which can just be seen underlying the interlace designs. At the bottom of the panel is a border of fretwork. The vertical lines of the frets are at the same intervals as the lines of the knotwork grid, giving an indication of the techniques used by the stonemason. ‘Whithorn School’ monuments like this one were probably carved during a fairly short period between 900AD and 1100AD. On display in the Whithorn Priory Museum, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway.